John Pring, who runs the Disability News Service, publishes his weekly news round-up of the happenings in the disability world the past week.
• Leading figures in the disability movement say they could stop cooperating with the Department for Work and Pensions if the government’s welfare reform bill becomes law.
• The London 2012 organising committee’s appeal for volunteers to take part in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympics has been criticised by leading disabled artists and performers.
• The disabled activists behind a ground-breaking report that accused the government of misleading parliament over its welfare reforms say major concessions agreed by a coalition minister are a victory for disabled people.
• Disabled peers have secured a string of key concessions from the government on its controversial disability living allowance reforms.
• A senior disabled MP is to examine the government’s failure to respond to allegations that it misled parliament over its disability living allowance reforms.
• Government cuts to vital disability benefits will be even harsher than the coalition previously admitted, official figures have revealed, with nearly half a million people set to lose their right to disability living allowance.
• A disabled American actor has caused an internet sensation after using his acceptance speech at a televised US awards ceremony to offer support to the British victim of a disability hate crime attack.
• The Crown Prosecution Service is reviewing a barrister’s decision not to call for stricter sentences for three people who took part in a “degrading” hate crime attack on a disabled man.
• A health minister has refused to accept the existence of a huge gap between the care and support that disabled people need, and the funding made available to pay for it.
News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com
Disability News Service (DNS) is run by John Pring, an experienced journalist who has been reporting on disability issues for more than 15 years.
